i like it 

BTilson,

Glad you found that Frontpanel Designer link I posted.  Looks good.  Real metal is nice....pricey but nice.  Are you sure about the 2mm?  That is THIN.  It'll have to have a backing plate.

Well... you are on your way to bankruptcy and depravity. 

best,

..................john

Update!

I discovered that you can do a true to scale print out from the panel designer program, so my first thought was PROTOTYPE! I cut out a piece of plexiglass the appropriate size, then marked all the holes and such. I then drilled them all out with my drill press and used my sons glue stick to just glue the printout to the back of it. I cut out the switch holes in the paper with scissors. I then put in all my switches and tightened them all down. It doesn't LOOK very pretty, being a (rather poorly) printed panel backing a piece of rather beat up plexiglass.

BUT... it WORKS. Only thing left to do is program a macro for the AP altitude + and - adjustments since those aren't available in default FS controls. I still need to build an enclosure so there are a bunch of wires all over my desk at the moment, but it WORKS. I have built my first piece of real sim hardware! A fully functional AP panel.

It's amazing just how much more immersive it makes everything feel just by that one little addition. Now to engage any of the AP modes, or to adjust my heading bug, I can just use the panel I made. No more mouse clicky clicky for me. (At least not for AP functions!  )

I spent a couple of hours just doing touch and gos around one of my favorite little airports, playing with the AP heading and approach modes and such. It was very fun. (Runway 3 at KMRN if anyone is interested in checking it out. Has a localizer approach, but no glideslope. GS help is a VASI by the runway) I'd shoot one landing with approach mode on and just control the slope, land, take off again and circle around, then shoot the next approach completely by hand. It was a blast.

I don't have any pictures of the "finished" panel yet, but I shall take some this evening and update again.

On a side note, I had my first experience in a REAL plane on Sunday. Went to the local regional airport (KAVL, Asheville Regional) and took a "Discovery Flight" with WNC Aviation. Went up in a Cessna 172SP. It was an ABSOLUTE BLAST. I actually got to handle the controls a bit and everything. It was well worth the $100 fee for the flight.

I like that very much, a very cool layout. Are the drilled holes going to be for encoders? I am guessing so since they're under the buttons that have an adjustable value (CRS, HDG, ALT)

If you are going with encoders, what kind are you planning on using?

any 2 bit "grey scale" encoder should work fine

for the altitude, vert speed, heading, and nav a pot isnt what you need. Encoders send momentary key pulses and allow you an unlimited range. Pots basically offer a set range of resistance example 100k ohm is 0-100k ohms of resistance as you move the dial.

To be honest I dont think you can setup a pot for that application. If you are looking for an encoder opencockpits has them

cool